330 Rev. H. B. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine. 



The Gulls and Terns are equally abundant with the Grebes 

 in the winter and spring on the Sea of Galilee. From morning 

 to night the)'^ pass and repass up and down its short length — the 

 magnificent Larus ichthyaetus in particular making the circuit 

 of the lake close to the edge and always within shot, as though 

 to keep himself in exercise. We got this royal Sea-Gull, in the 

 finest possible plumage, in the month of March. Where they 

 go to breed I cannot say ; they certainly do not breed in Pales- 

 tine; probably they take an easy flight to the Red Sea and 

 enjoy their spring among its coral-reefs*. In fact we could not 

 find a trace of any Gulls or Terns breeding in the country, ex- 

 cept Sterna hyhrida, in the Huleh marshes. 



I have seen no figure or description which does full justice 

 to Larus ichthyaetus in breeding-plumage. The bill of one I 

 shot on the 29th of February was a rich orange from base to 

 tip, with a black bar across both mandibles near the tip, ana- 

 logous to the black bar across the coral-red bill of the Medi- 

 terranean Gull {L. melanocephalus) . The tarsi and feet were rich 

 yellow with a greenish tinge, not flesh-coloured, which I imagine 

 is the livery of the younger bird; and there is a purity and 

 distinctness in its plumage unrivalled, I think, in any other Gull. 

 I also obtained L. ichthyaetus in winter plumage near the mouth 

 of the Kishon in December. The most abundant Gull on the 

 Lake of Galilee was Larus audouini, which we obtained also on 

 the Dead Sea, all along the Jordan, on the Mediterranean coast, 

 and even, as mentioned above, in the southern wilderness. L. 

 fuscus, L. canus, and L. ridibundus are also found on the Lake of 

 Galilee, and were met with in plenty on the coast in winter. The 

 commonest coast Gull is L. argentatus, or rather that small variety 

 of it distinguished as L. leucoph<£us, Licht. The rare L. gelastes, 

 Licht., and L. melanocephalus, Temm., were also on the coast, 

 but we did not meet with them on the inland waters. 



Of the Terns, Sterna velox, not observed by us on the coast, 

 and S. hyhrida remain in small flocks on the Sea of Galilee, 

 till they acquire the breeding-plumage, when S. velox disappears 



* [It may be inferred from Pallas's account (Zoogr. R.-As. ii. p. 323) 

 that they breed on the shores of the Caspian Sea. {Cf. P. Z. S. 1867, pp. 

 166, 167).— Ed.] 



